Regardless of whether Trump, one of Trump's peeps, or an indy trolled this hoax ...
... BuzzFeed (EIC Ben Smith was at Politico, previously BTW) bit on it, because they desperately wanted to believe it.
... CNN bit on it, because they desperately wanted to believe it.
... The NYT bit on it, because they desperately wanted to believe it.
No matter what conspiracy theories Ds/Libs/Progs might try to spin, the story here is that, for all their sanctimonious chest-beating about "fake news" ProgMedia and MSM outlets ran it because they hate Donald Trump and desperately wanted the hoax to be true.
IOW, the true story in all this is MSM partisan carelessness and partisan credulity.